Certain types of communications are required to be made in confidence. For example, U.S. government classified information must be communicated at the highest levels of confidence. As another example, a business executive might wish to make a call regarding an important business deal, and this discussion must be kept confidential until the deal is finally worked out. As yet another example, in the healthcare industry, the privacy rules set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandate that any individually identifiable health information must be maintained in strict confidence. Thus, health care providers which send such information using conventional email, voice and fax systems risk liability. Similar concerns are raised when lawyers share confidential documents, and, in general, whenever information of a confidential or secret nature is to be shared.
Unfortunately, today's public telephone networks, particularly cellular networks, are not secure. Calls can be easily intercepted by eavesdroppers using inexpensive equipment. Though users enjoy the convenience of their communication devices (such as their Blackberry devices and Apple iPhones) they risk having third parties listening in or otherwise intercepting or tracing their calls. Furthermore, when such devices are lost or stolen valuable information can sometimes be obtained from these devices. Similar concerns exist for email and text messaging.
Traditionally, communication streams transmitted over wireless devices have used National Security Agency (NSA) Type 1 devices to ensure end-to-end encryption for secure transmission of classified information. However, such NSA Type 1 wireless communications devices are generally large, bulky, easily recognized and limited as to the particular wireless networks in which they can operate. Software configured NSA Type 1 wireless communications device configurations have helped overcome some of the mainstream NSA Type 1 communications device limitations, but generally such features still substantially limit the utility of such devices in many real-world field situations. Furthermore, such devices are not available for commercial use.
Moreover, and importantly, even where communication can be protected (such as by encryption), other security issues remain. What is needed is a comprehensive solution to providing secure communication for mobile devices that includes techniques for authentication and control of communication end-points; chain of trust to ensure devices are certified as authentic; contact list management; peer-to-peer encrypted voice, email, and text messaging, etc. Heretofore, no such system has been available.